Customer called in to report that her phone wouldn't dial out. She said she was getting a Switch Recorded Message (the official name of those fun "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed" messages) when she tried to dial a number. I asked her if it was happening on all numbers and she said so far she had only tried one number. I asked her for the number so I see if it was her line or the person she was calling and got a rapid busy signal. I told her I'd need to get another number to call me back on so we could troubleshoot since she was on her mobile phone at the time, and she told me the number she just gave me was her home phone.
Me: So this is the number that you can't dial?
Customer: Yes.
Me: And you can't dial it from your handset?
Customer: Right.
Me: Well, you can't call from your mobile phone and I can't reach it from my landline, you should probably call your landline provider.
Customer: Well, I know the phone isn't cut off, I paid my bill. It has to be your service.
Me: Okay, I want you to try something for me. Pick up the receiver and tell me if you hear a dialtone.
Customer: No, there's nothing.
Me: So it seems our service is working fine. I really think you should contact your landline provider and see if they're having an outage.
Customer: Look, there's no way there's anything wrong with that line. It was working yesterday!
Me: But... I can't call it, and you can't call it, and there's no dialtone. It sounds like your landline service isn't working.
Customer: Well fine! I'll call them and they'll tell me everything is fine and then I'll just wind up calling back and maybe I'll get someone else who can help me!
Sometimes I could just cry.
Me: So this is the number that you can't dial?
Customer: Yes.
Me: And you can't dial it from your handset?
Customer: Right.
Me: Well, you can't call from your mobile phone and I can't reach it from my landline, you should probably call your landline provider.
Customer: Well, I know the phone isn't cut off, I paid my bill. It has to be your service.
Me: Okay, I want you to try something for me. Pick up the receiver and tell me if you hear a dialtone.
Customer: No, there's nothing.
Me: So it seems our service is working fine. I really think you should contact your landline provider and see if they're having an outage.
Customer: Look, there's no way there's anything wrong with that line. It was working yesterday!
Me: But... I can't call it, and you can't call it, and there's no dialtone. It sounds like your landline service isn't working.
Customer: Well fine! I'll call them and they'll tell me everything is fine and then I'll just wind up calling back and maybe I'll get someone else who can help me!
Sometimes I could just cry.
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